2011

Mission Ridge and I teamed up this past season to create some new ski imagery for the 2011-2012 season. We got some great shots that they are using for this years website and print ads. Here is a video they created with Howell at the Moon using only still images.

It's opening day at the Leavenworth Ski Hill on December 10th, 2011. Today marks the start of the ski season for the historic Leavenworth Winter Sports Club. The Leavenworth area has seen little snow thus far this season. We are seeing the snow vaporize around town but not surprisingly the cold corner pocket that holds the ski area has plenty of snow for sliding. The ski area is in limited operations with the big hill running but not the upper mountain. The little rope tow needs more snow to run. The LT Michael Adams tubing rope tow and hill is in full swing and the kids are holding on tight for the roller coaster ride.

Banksy's art on the Palestine Israel wall shows an image of the Cascades Mt. Shuksan. Much freedom and beauty we enjoy as Washington State residents. Most of us can visit this grand scene in a 3 hour drive.

Local legend Harlan introduced me to one of his favorite bike rides recently. It could be called the Rock Mountain extravaganza alpine bike tour! This ride has a bit of everything for the enthusiastic mountain rider. From high mountain views to old growth forests to deep emerald alpine lakes. Amazing place to pedal a bike! Huge thanks to Harlan for the pics and day!

T.R.A.I.L Washington had it's annual ride + party on Saturday July 23rd 2011. We headed up Blewett Pass to the top of the world at approximately 1pm. We then proceeded to shred the steep and deep for the rest of the day. We finished the 5000ft vertical drop and landed at Osprey Raftings Super Huck's Hideout. Thanks to Osprey for the sweet shuttle, burgers and all around rad hangout. Huge thanks to Rex, Heidi and Tim for an amazing event! Can't wait for the next super ride!

Luck had found us with a friendly phone call from local Rotarian Everett Green asking if we could shoot a group shot for his club. We gladly accepted and it was very nice to meet everyone. After talking for a bit we put everyone in a gigantic helicopter and flew to the top of the Cascades and got this shot on Wednesday April, 13th 2011 for the clubs 75th anniversary! Congratulations to the Cashmere Rotary Club!

Master ski ambassadors Glen and Kimberly Plake rolled into the Cascades for a visit to Stevens Pass during their 2011 Down Home Tour. Stevens Pass just happened to be in a very good powder cycle known locally as miracle March! Our very own master skier Jack Soukup introduced Plake to his first turns on Cowboy Ridge. Jack was excited to share one of his favorite runs with GP, 2nd Rock Face! I would say a most exciting first run for Plake! His 2nd run was another Cowboy Mtn favorite, Sidewinder. After that they finished the day skiing the area's classic lift accessed runs in good powder conditions.

Both Rob (WhiteDot) Egdamin and myself saw sunshine was forecast for the Stevens Pass ski area on the last day of January 2011. There was also a fair bit of nice fresh powder too. We decided it would be a fine day to do a little shredding and take a few pics along the way. As it turned out the sun didn't turn out till after 4pm. We did our best in the fog and flat light but it was tricky to get a great shot this day. Here is an image that turned out more like an illustration. What do you think?

With one more day of sunshine forecast for the Stevens Pass area I thought it appropriate to take advantage of the good light. I called Birdman up and told him I had a plan for the day. He happily accepted my invitation and we were skiing up hill at 6:15am on Jan 3rd 2011. We skied across the street from Stevens Pass for the 1st run and then headed over to Lichtenberg Mountain for our 2nd run. We actually found steller snow on the Lichtenschlopper and were quite pleased with the run. Here are some images of Birdman going full wingspan!

Rex Flake, Erik Svege and I headed up the White Pine area of Stevens Pass on the 2nd day of 2011. We were looking for never ending fields of the softest snow and we found never ending fields of wind-board. I couldn't figure out where all the good snow was? It was there yesterday... It got blown into something far different than what we were expecting but hey snow quality is overated anyway. It's just good to be out with great friends and getting in some high quality mountain time.